More Light Videotapes

In August 2022, PHS staff visited Alexander Library’s Special Collections and University Archives at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey to survey the records of More Light Presbyterians. Staff viewed around 10 cubic ft. of the 54 cubic ft. collection and established a relationship with Rutgers librarians and archivists. Through the visit and subsequent conversations with Rutgers staff and More Light leadership, PHS identified and digitized eight U-matic videotapes from the collection. 

Digitization revealed footage of the 1978 UPCUSA General Assembly, where Sandra (Sandy) Brawders, a Princeton Theological Seminary student at the time, came out on the General Assembly floor and spoke during plenary for an open policy on ordination. Other videos include footage of a consultation on homophobia at the Stony Point Center in September 1984. Speakers and presenters at the consultation included Robert Hawkins, Jr., Rev. Karen Ziegler, Dr. George Edwards, Dr. Byron Shafer, Chris Glaser, and Rev. Jane Spahr.

Watch the newly digitized More Light videotapes: digital.history.pcusa.org/MLP